Let's Do This One More Time
by rainonmonday
Summary: Zoe had many skills, but cooking was not one of them, even if she had a recipe to guide her. One-shot.


**Felt like I needed to write something after the finale, but I had my doubts since I could not commit with a full multi-chapter just yet. But I wrote this little thing I hope you like. A little silly and fluffy, here it is.**

* * *

**_Let's Do This One More Time_**

Like any other morning, Wade opened the kitchen door to have his bowl cereal and start his day with the right foot.

He was expecting to find the place empty since Lavon had told him something about a meeting early in the morning and some _mayor-ly_ duties of his, so hearing the clank of pots in the kitchen startled him.

He seriously hoped not to find a raccoon or some other animal there early in the morning. He was in no mood to chase a furry invader around the house.

With curiosity he pushed the door opened and caught sight of a petite brunette huffing while standing in tiptoes and trying to reach for something in the cupboard above her.

A smirk slid on his face as his brow furrowed. What she was doing was a mystery for him and whoever happened to watch her there. She was no friend of the stove. Zoe had many skills, but cooking was not one of them, even if she had a recipe to guide her. He knew this first hand.

"Lavon left before making breakfast?"

She yelped and jumped a little, her back colliding with the kitchen island.

"I didn't hear you," she gasped with both fists near her face as if she were ready to smack him with those tiny hands. But he just laughed at the sight of those stubborn tendrils of hair escaping from her braid, at the flour sprinkled on her right cheek and the oversized Crimson Tide apron that hid one of her typical city girl outfits.

"Couldn't tell," he muttered cynically.

She glared at him as he rounded the island and walked to the refrigerator to grab the milk. Her fists landed on her hips, but even with arms akimbo she could not look intimidating to him. Cute, but intimidating never.

"I, I thought you had to be at the Rammer Jammer at this time," she said checking the clock on the wall and biting her lip, frowning at the hands telling the time.

"Took the morning off."

Wade reached for a bowl and noticed the dirty pots in the sink and the silly binder covered in pink he knew was where AnnaBeth kept her recipes.

"Oh."

"Yeah, have to take some time now before Wanda takes her time off for the baby."

"Right."

"So," Wade drawled, his gaze sweeping over the counter and her mess. "Had a hard time making toasts?"

Zoe snorted a laugh, but ducked her head. "Something like that."

"Have to be at the practice soon, 'cause I can sure help if you-"

"No!" She screeched and jumped in front of him as he tried to move further into the kitchen. She almost shoved him away with both hands against his chest. She covered it up with some giggling. "I, I have to learn to do this by myself. How am I going to survive if I move?"

"Thinking about moving off the Plantation?"

"No! Why would I do that?"

"You just said-"

"I'm comfortable here. This is my home."

Frowning, Wade opened and closed his mouth but said nothing. That girl always kept him on his toes. Who could ever understand her?

Wade chuckled. "Okay. So I'll take my breakfast and leave you to… cook and learn for yourself."

"Good."

"Good."

He took a spoonful of his cereal as they both kept eyes locked on each other, as if daring the other to speak up. Maybe she would break and confess, but knowing her – especially after her heartfelt confession almost three weeks before – Wade doubted she would be easy to break.

Wolfing down the last of his breakfast, he decided to leave her since she appeared to be nervous as hell while watching him. And he was not shy, but she did not seem to be able to look away. Zoe was getting on his nerves.

"Well, I'll leave you now."

"Okay. Have a good day!" she exclaimed chirpily.

Just out of the door he shook his head and laughed lowly. Damn, that girl was something else.

When the door opened again behind him and he almost fell flat on his behind when she spoke up again.

"Do you have to close tonight? Are you getting home late?"

"What?"

She grinned and shrugged a shoulder. "Just, you know, checking in case I feel like eating there and not paying for wine." Zoe made a lame attempt to play cool, but by then she should have known better than that.

"No. I need to make some arrangements to improve the business so I was planning to come back home at about-"

"Seven?"

"Yeah?" Wade drawled. He wondered if this had anything to do with Wanda and the rest of the guys at the RJ offering to close and for him to leave at about seven.

"Great." Zoe beamed at him and shut the door promptly behind her back.

Girl was crazy.

…

"Sal!"

Zoe skillfully ran down the street in her high heels, attempting to catch up with the self-proclaimed _man-whore_ of BlueBell. She certainly did not need the kind of services that had earned him the title, but rather the other services he was known for.

"I need your help," she panted as soon as he turned around with some sort of annoyed look on his face.

"I'm busy, Doctor Hart. I-"

"Nope," she chided. "Who has been the one who has treated you whenever you needed? Who has listened to all that drama in your love life? Who, huh? Well, me!" She pointed at herself with a flourish. "And now I need your help to fix my love life."

"What you saying, miss?" The old man frowned while scratching the side of his head in utter confusion.

Zoe beamed at him. "I need a pound of shrimps. Deveined."

He rolled his eyes and she only batted her lashes at him.

"Please?"

…

Wade was just leaving the hardware store, after buying some supplies to fix a few things around the Rammer Jammer's kitchen when he caught sight of Zoe chasing down Sal Nutter.

Just then Tom Long was walking by, and Wade decided to ask him if he had any idea of what the doctor was planning, since Tom, for some reason, happened to know everything around town.

"Me, uh, no." The man replied nervously, his cheeks coloring. His laughter let Wade know he was not being completely honest, and he _did_ know something was up. "I, uh, just have to run and deliver a few things."

"Are those pecans?" Wade said motioning to the bag of things Tom was carrying.

"Um, yeah. Wanda was craving those this morning and I had to go to the market and buy some, ahem, other things."

"Sure thing," Wade muttered. "But you do know your wife is working at this hour and the Rammer Jammer is the other way, right?"

Tom paled and then grinned. "Of course. I'm just taking this home to surprise her."

And before Wade could even point out that they lived one block down the street and three to the left, Tom Long ran away with his bags and disappeared zigzagging through town's square.

…

"Let's see," Earl murmured before blowing hard enough to remove the dust off an old book, yellowed thanks to the years. Both he and Zoe coughed a little before he grinned at her. "Yup. This is it."

"Are you sure?" Zoe peered over to scan the book's cover and blinked at it since there was some faded gold lettering that she did not quite read.

"Of course I'm sure," Earl replied a little offended. "I have not kept around this thing just because I like to read ingredients. Now if I remembered correctly there were a few pages marked, our favorite ones." He leafed through the book, finding some dog-eared pages and a few others with sticky notes on them, pointing out some changes made to the recipes.

"So how will I know which ones?"

"Jackie marked Wade's favorites with red. Mine were the dog-eared ones and Jesse's have sticky notes 'cause the boy's allergic to cinnamon."

"Oh. She was pretty organized."

"I know," Earl whispered more to himself than for her. "Nothing like us."

"Right?"

They both nodded at each other with similar expressions.

…

Wade was returning from the Rammer Jammer when he passed by the plantation. He noticed the lights were on, even if Lavon had called him to let him know he would be spending the night at a hotel in Mobile, since something had come up. The man sounded mysterious as it was and since the whole day had been extremely bizarre, he decided to check. Just in case.

Unlike most times, Wade got in through the front door and use the spare key Lavon had given him years before.

"Hello?"

In response he heard a sharp and loud hiccup, like the one someone made after crying for a while.

"Who is there?"

"Go- go home, Wade!" Zoe stuttered, even if he could not see her anywhere.

He knew her well enough to tell she had been indeed crying, and she probably was. He knew those sounds she made, the ugly crying he had provoked a few times and just the memory stabbed him in the heart and made him feel guilty.

"Doc?"

"Go! _Please!_"

Zoe was sat on the floor, legs extended in front of her, poking out of her skirt and apron. The sleeves of the blouse were rolled up and her hair was messier than that morning. Her eyelashes were holding some tears and she looked at him miserably.

"Z," he whispered, crouching down to be closer to her level, but the gesture he attempted to push her hair behind her ear, now that it fell in lovely waves over her shoulders, only provoked her to cry harder. "What's going on?"

"I, I'm sorry. I messed things up. I cannot follow a recipe and I only wanted to make something nice for you," she spoke brokenly while bawling. "Like you did when you baked me the cookies and all that."

It was only then that he realized the kitchen was full of pots and the pungent smell of something burnt was wafting around them.

"What?"

"I cooked dinner for you!" She looked up, seeing the red pot and hiccupped. "Well, tried to."

He chuckled, which she probably did not want as a reaction because she glared at him.

"You are a crazy woman." He stood up and checked on the red pot, seeing her attempt of a hearty jambalaya. The shrimps were still pink at the top of the food. He reached for the wooden spoon and took some of the food, taking a nice portion of it to Zoe's chagrin.

"No." She swatted his hand but he did not let go of the spoon. "Wade! You could get sick."

He chewed on the soft shrimp, on the hard rice and the salty chicken and swallowed without even wincing while looking at her.

"Good thing the doctor's here with me, then."

She widened her eyes as he tried to take yet another bite.

"Stop it! I do not want you to get sick."

"You won't take care of me?" Wade wondered half way to eat more of the disastrous dish.

She rolled her eyes and ducked her head, until her chin almost rested against her chest. It was the silent answer he needed. She was still shy about having confessed her feelings. It was an open wound for them, and she was taking the time to care for it. He just hoped it would heal the natural way.

She pushed his hand off the spoon and he smirked at her.

"You didn't have to."

He held her face in his hands and wiped her wet cheeks with his thumbs.

"I wanted to. I want to prove it to you that I'm trying. I'm _really_ trying." Zoe sighed. "And I ruined dinner. I overcooked AB's _super_ easy jambalaya recipe and Lemon's hushpuppies that I had to throw."

Wade chuckled and she imitated him through her tears.

"The only thing edible is the pecan pie I baked with your mom's recipe that probably doesn't taste half as good as the one she baked."

Wade's smile faltered and he turned around to pull the oven's door open. In front of him, there was a beautifully caramel colored pie that was still hot. He almost burnt his fingers trying to get it out to simply stare at it.

"What- Wade, just let it be." Zoe tried to stop him, afraid to ruin the last of the night. Perhaps scared he could be mad at her for bringing up painful memories.

He looked up at Zoe as he grabbed a fork from the table and dug in. He tasted the same hint of brown sugar he remembered from when he was a boy. Soft and crunchy textures. He closed his eyes and then chuckled when he opened them.

"Earl gave you the recipe book?"

Zoe nodded. "I ask him what your favorite dessert was."

He grinned widely at her before cupping her face in his hands and pulling her to him, kissing her mouth for the first time in months, for the first time since she made promises of proving her love for him.

Her hands grabbed him at the sides by the flannel shirt. Zoe clung to him and his heart beat wildly in his heart.

It was the same emotion, the same taste of her lips soft and pliant against his urgent kiss. It just did not seem enough. How could he have survived so long without her kisses, her touch, the smell of her perfume and feel of her skin?

"It's not horrible, I'm guessing," she whispered softly, making him snort a laugh before pressing his lips against her forehead and hugging her.

"If you bake that pie for me every day, I won't mind if you can't boil an egg."

She choked on a watery laugh.

"It's the first time I eat pecan pie in years." He perched his chin atop of her head and felt how she rested her cheek against his chest. "No one had baked it for me since... It's been a long time."

"So I did not ruin things?"

He laughed loudly and Zoe looked up.

"No. This is perfect for a second chance pie."

"Had I known I hadn't messed that up too, I would have planned something better."

"Next time," Wade said.

Zoe beamed at him. "I'm glad there's going to be a next time."


End file.
